During these times of ongoing pandemic, the condition of most traditional artists in the country is quite scary. In fact most art is dying because of lack of promotion and encouragement. The artists don’t get the actual price for their work, often leading them to starvation. Their condition worsened during the lockdowns. Artisans were found struggling to survive in pandemic. Such was also the case with the`Pattachitra’ artists of living nearby Puri in Odisha.
Their livelihood totally depended on tourism, which was completely shut due to Covid 19. Even managing their daily necessities became difficult. During this period the IFS of Karnataka cadre, Ms. Dipika Bajpai came for their support and started a social media campaign to help them sell their paintings and cruise through the crisis.
In a conversation with Indian Masterminds, the 2010 batch officer talked about how she got to know about these artists and she started promoting their work.
THE ODISHA CONNECTION
Ms. Bajpai’s roots go back to Haryana but her forefathers settled in Odisha for business. She was born in Odisha lived there till her sixth standard. Like everybody else, she has great love for her birthplace and a natural affiliation towards Odisha’s culture.
During the first lockdown she was on a child care leave after her second baby was born. On one of those lockdown days, she got a message in one of her WhatsApp groups about a Pattachitra artist and his struggles during the covid crisis. The message was from an ex-army officer who was encouraging others to buy their paintings and help them survive. Ms. Bajpai took the contact of the artist and tried communicating with them. “Some of my friends were helping people with rations and I also became part of their campaign. I know Odia so I called them and asked if they want help with ration or any other thing. They refused, saying for how many days could provide them ration. It is better that I buy some of their painting, the artist pleaded”, said Ms. Bajpai.
She bought a painting of Jagannath and started telling her friends about their art. Soon she realized that this was not enough. So, she started posting pictures of the Pattachitra Painting and few lines about it on her twitter handle. Her only aim was that more and more people should learn about these artists and their work.
This worked wonderfully well and soon Ms Bajpai was flooded with queries from all corners. It was difficult for her to handle all of them. This is when she created a dedicated twitter handle@PattachitraP which helped her to track the customers. She successfully bridged the gap between the artisans and the customer. Her efforts worked, and the artist were able to sell more than 100 paintings.
Ms. Bajpai tries to be in continuous touch with all the 35-40 families who are associated with this art and they have become her extended family.
THE ART
Pattachitra is one of the oldest traditional art of Odisha. Most stories associated with Ramayana, Krishna and Jagannath Ji are depicted in these paintings. The paintings are done on a cotton cloth called ‘Patta’ and all the colours used are natural.
The process of making the painting is quite elaborate. First the tamarind seeds are soaked at night and the paste is used to harden the cloth which then becomes like a canvas. Most of the times the colourful stones powder is used for colour and white shells powder are used for making white colours. It takes days to first prepare the canvas and then the outline of the painting. Right now only a small group of people are practising this art, which has been passed from one generation to another.
FOREST MAKES YOU HUMBLE
When asked about how being a forest officer changed her life, Ms. Bajpai says, “Being into forest service gives you a golden opportunity to be near nature. You start to value natural and real things. Since you invest a lot of time in forest, you begin to differentiate between the real and artificial world. The nature also keeps you calm and provides immense positivity”.
Currently posted as the Deputy Conservator of Forest, Gadag as executive Director of Gadag Zoo, Ms. Bajpai continues to do the good work.
